Topic: Random Updates from Terry Amthor

[egdcltd]

Lastly a wish:
Could you do Lethys and maybe Cynar in the new Jaiman book? It wouldn't need to be as detailed as Eidolon or Halkiitaine but city map and a couple of pages to flesh those out.

Thank you a lot   

I read in the latest GCP update that a Lethys city book, by another author but vetted by Terry, is in the earliest stages of development.

[Terry K. Amthor]

Lastly a wish:
Could you do Lethys and maybe Cynar in the new Jaiman book? It wouldn't need to be as detailed as Eidolon or Halkiitaine but city map and a couple of pages to flesh those out.

Thank you a lot   

I read in the latest GCP update that a Lethys city book, by another author but vetted by Terry, is in the earliest stages of development.

You read correctly. I am hoping that it will pan out.

[Terry K. Amthor]

Just reviewed the Director's Briefing... http://www.ironcrown.com/ICEforums/index.php?topic=13650.0

Had to LOL that so many of my projects are 'Strange' (though maybe that is a term that means something different in the UK, like 'grotesque.') As Nicholas indicated, they are somewhere in a time-space anomaly between rewrite and production... so maybe 'strange' is not such a misnomer.

[Terry K. Amthor]

I ended Loremaster legacy a few days ago... Enjoyed it a lot - even though I prefer printed books million times over e-books...

While reading it I was checking my old SW books. Some questions / comments from cross referring the books.

In LL Hiiri Taldin was clearly cleric and human/something and but In Eidolon 1st ed he is shay/laan monk. Obviously LL is the latest word. Are 2nd ed Eidolon changes fixing these kind of things?
 
New Eidolon cover is nice but the original cover in 1st edition Eidolon was one of the best ever - it would be shame to see it gone. Could you / ICE put that also in the book - I'd like to see several illustrations of Se-lkai/Eidolon in the 2nd edition (as they are around). Just to show PC's to visualize the place.

Messangers have been neutered in gaming terms/stats. In older books esp.  Ironwind and Jaiman messangers were truly frightening also in gaming stats. Now (e.g. Xaar) they are merely competent or below average considering the level - generic NPC charts RM2 and RMSS/RMFRP  give more competent fighters without quality/magic items mentioned in later books. Is this intentional for some gaming  reasons as in fiction they still seem to be quite formidable?

Lastly a wish:
Could you do Lethys and maybe Cynar in the new Jaiman book? It wouldn't need to be as detailed as Eidolon or Halkiitaine but city map and a couple of pages to flesh those out.

Thank you a lot   

Hi Tommi,

Noted on all fronts. I will see about including the old Eidolon cover in some way in the new edition. Your comment does bring back memories, as the original artwork we got for this way back was painted on some kind of board and it was damaged or not fully dry when the artist shipped it, so after we got it photographed and scanned, I actually spent dozens of hours with PhotoShop (naturally a much more basic version than now) cleaning it up. That files is, sadly, long gone so I'll have to scan it from my hardcopy.

As for Messengers, I will indeed look into their stats. They should be terrifying. And Hiiri, I'll check, but yes, he is not entirely human.

[zyax1]

Lastly a wish:
Could you do Lethys and maybe Cynar in the new Jaiman book? It wouldn't need to be as detailed as Eidolon or Halkiitaine but city map and a couple of pages to flesh those out.

Thank you a lot   

I read in the latest GCP update that a Lethys city book, by another author but vetted by Terry, is in the earliest stages of development.

You read correctly. I am hoping that it will pan out.

I hope so too. Don't know exactly when I first started to write about Lethys but its close to 20 years ago and it would be very nice to end the project with a printed copy...

[Mordred]

Just reviewed the Director's Briefing... http://www.ironcrown.com/ICEforums/index.php?topic=13650.0

Had to LOL that so many of my projects are 'Strange' (though maybe that is a term that means something different in the UK, like 'grotesque.') As Nicholas indicated, they are somewhere in a time-space anomaly between rewrite and production... so maybe 'strange' is not such a misnomer.

Hi,

could you provide any info regarding...

"we have The Priest King of Shade and the Lethys sourcebooks in Precontract with substantial material already written, and I hope that both of these will move to Preproduction soon. We will be making a formal call for Shadow World adventures in the very near future - Terry and I are still working up the call instructions." ?

[Terry K. Amthor]

Hi,

could you provide any info regarding...

"we have The Priest King of Shade and the Lethys sourcebooks in Precontract with substantial material already written, and I hope that both of these will move to Preproduction soon. We will be making a formal call for Shadow World adventures in the very near future - Terry and I are still working up the call instructions." ?

Hi, not really any more than Nicholas has given at this time. The two manuscripts are in early stages, and the 'call' instructions are in the draft stage.

[Terry K. Amthor]

While I wrestle with timelines and adventures of Emer III/Eidolon, remember there is plenty of adventure in Jaiman! Who has and hasn't picked up my last monster module, 'Xa-ar and Northern Saralis,' set in NW Jaiman? It's got a ton of adventures and an exotic campaign that could keep your players busy for ages.

http://www.rpgnow.com/product/56438/Shadow-World-The-Land-of-Xa-ar?affiliate_id=181921

[Terry K. Amthor]

I have a few copies of the original hardcopy (perfect-bound, not case-bound hardback) press run of Powers of Light & Darkness, which I am selling for the bargain price of $10.00 US plus shipping ($6 in the US; Europe, you will need to calculate at USPS.com; I suggest the cheaper priority, padded envelope). I’ll be happy to autograph it as well if you wish. The link takes you to my page, where you can purchase it thru Paypal using your account or a credit card. Thanks!

http://gil.machighway.com/~eidolons/Shadow_World/Products.html

[Terry K. Amthor]

Spent pretty much all day working on the layout of the new edition of Eidolon City in the Sky, adding material and fixing the layout. I realized I needed to increase the gutter for the hardbound/casebook version so the text doesn't go too close to the binding, so that meant tweaking the whole layout, yay! But it's fun adding in new things here and there, and of course updating with all the events that have happened in the last four years in Sel-kai (I can't even believe how many real world years it has been!), with lots of intrigue and looming war. Oh and at least five all-new adventures, all set in Sel-kai/Eidolon.

[mistrornge]

Looks great.  Can't wait to see it.

[Terry K. Amthor]

The Loari Elves are here! Run!

http://gizmodo.com/the-aluminum-airship-of-the-future-has-finally-flown-1301320903

[Terry K. Amthor]

Totally sucked into reformatting Eidolon and Emer II the last couple days. I've decided to re-use the area maps in the back of Emer II since they will be in color even in the print version now, and if I do say so myself, they are kind of nice, plus they provide a ton of detail with mountain contours and roads and small rivers, etc. Since I actually did it as one large map, instead of the six windows I did before with a lot of dead space, I am re-windowing various parts centered on the realm, and putting it in that section (so no more realms chopped up in parts across pages, yay. Oh and there will be scales!

Not sure what I am going to do on that front for Emer I; those B&W maps are not so pretty. The Emer II maps took me forever, using Painter with a little tablet and stylus, but I got the watercolor effect I wanted.

[Terry K. Amthor]

Found my graph paper pad, now if I can track down my snazzy Rotring mechanical pencil, the layouts for Emer III adventures can begin! (All the main layouts for the book are already sketched). Also, where the heck is my copy of Larry Niven's Neutron Star short stories? I know I have a copy, and I have found all my other Larry Niven books. Grrr.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/100366.Neutron_Star

[Terry K. Amthor]

Whew, the text for the adventures is just about done (20 more pages to an already huge module!) and the layouts are sketched and just need inking in. It's times like this that I miss my old plastic oval and circle templates from Architecture School (yes we were still old-school when I went: recalcitrant rapidograph pens and vellum; no fancy CAD for us). Wonder what happened to those templates...

[markc]

 Terry,
 Yes I still use my chemist triangle and curve tools to map stuff for my game or when mapping for other games. It is great, I should buy a tone of them and then leave them to people when I pass away in 100 years or so.
MDC

[Terry K. Amthor]

Emer III layout underway! *tingle*

First 95 pages roughed out, but now comes the fun task of marking all the index entries. Still needing some very important art files, but enough to run with for now.

[Terry K. Amthor]

While the Smithsonian is closed, this online exhibit remains open: a fascinating study about time and navigation, including sea and air. For you sticklers for detail, this is fascinating. (And an airship features in Emer III adventures).

http://timeandnavigation.si.edu/

[Terry K. Amthor]

I'm listing some Shadow World books on Ebay. Kingdom of the Desert Jewel, Cloudlords, Emer I.

http://www.ebay.com/usr/terbob1

[Terry K. Amthor]

Working on revisions. For some reason, in Emer II I broke up the NPC/military charts by region, putting a chart at the end of every realm section. This seems weird to me now, though I actually presently have the Emer III NPCs broken out by Khum-kaan, Onar and Rael. And then there are the Adventure NPCs.

I can see both sides, but what do you think? All charts in the back, or attached to a section. I can see it actually making more sense realm by realm in Emer II, and kind of arbitrary n Emer III, and am leaning towards moving all the charts to the back, but of course still separated by region/realm, and the adventures.

Thoughts?